Not Looking Too Good
by SioDymph
Summary: Ever since Zim left, Dib has refused to leave his room and Gaz has absolutely had it with her brother's mopiness and stench. Can Lilo persuade Dib to take a shower?
1. Not Looking Too Good

_This was inspired of course by the new Invader Zim comics which I'm so pumped about and want to read as soon as I can. And since Dib/Lilo is one of my big guilty pleasure crossover ships, I had to create this entire AU of her handling the Dib from the beginning of the comics. Hope you enjoy reading this!_

"He's what?"

"He refuses to come out of his room and he's gotten so smelly!"

"All because Zim left?"

"He won't stop looking at his all his computers, and he talks to himself, like a lot more then he use to."

Lilo bit the inside of her cheek nervously. Dib was always one to go overboard, but this? Sitting in a room all by himself like that would make him sick; Physically and mentally... especially someone who depended so much on social contact like him.

"Wait, how long has this been going on?"

"A couple of weeks"

"And you only called me now?"

"I thought he was gonna be ok, take a shower, move on with his life. But he just won't give it up."

"And he won't let anyone in his room? He's all alone?"

"No, he doesn't mind people going in there, but he stinks so bad..."

Lilo could hear Gaz shudder from the other side of the line.

"He's really disgusting, you know. I can't even go in there it's so bad. I just push his food into his room with a stick."

She tried to imagine it, Dib secluding himself to the his room, withering away in front of computers. The idea didn't seem foreign in comparison to the drastic measures Dib had taken before, but that didn't make this any healthier.

"Would you try talking to him or something? You could just talk to him online for all I care, but at least try to get him to take a shower? The stench is staring to leak out of his room."

"Well... I'll see what I can do."

Gaz just huffed in reply and hung up the phone without saying "Thank you", granted though, Lilo didn't really expect such a response from the other girl.

Hanging up the phone, Lilo slumped onto the couch and pulled out her laptop. As it loaded up and connected to Dib's computers she couldn't help but wonder what she was getting into. Sure Gaz could often be over-dramatic about rather serious situations, but at the same time she could be very uninvolved and apathetic when it came to her brother too.

When the connection was finally made and the side of Dib's face came into view, there was no doubt that Gaz had been understating Dib's state. His skin was so pale now it had a green-blue hue to it surrounded by the glow of LED lights, not to mention the irritated acne that coated his face in a greasy gleam. She could see his lips quivering as he mumbled reassuring nonsense to himself. Lilo almost felt like mourning when she saw the state of his hair. His signature scythe was a deflated ratty mess falling to the side of his face, and the rest of the matted tangled mess looked no better. But it was the change in his eyes that really unsettled her. Once warm, glowing amber eyes were now were empty, dulled and animalistic as they jumped from monitor to monitor desperately searching for an unseen monster.

Taking a breath Lilo tried to get his attention, "Uhh, hey! Dib?"

The sound seemed to catch Dib off guard and he spun over to look at his good friend.

"Lilo?" He asked, in a vacant voice that lacked the vigor it use to hold.

The complete full view of the boy was even worse then the side view. Now, Lilo could see bits and pieces of leftover food embedding themselves in his hair and clothes. Even just seeing the image of Dib, Lilo could tell he had to stink terribly. Sitting a room alone covered in filth certainly couldn't be doing anything healthy or sane for Dib, and it showed.

"Why are you calling? I'm sorry but I'm really busy at the moment..." As Dib talked, he'd try to keep eye contact with Lilo but his eyes would constantly leave her screen to any of the other numerous monitors decorating the room.

"I, um I just wanted to check up on you. How's it going?"

Dib gave a sickening cough before he began a rambling speech, "I know he wouldn't just give up on earth, this is like his life's work. Why would he just leave? Huh? That makes no sense. But no one believes me. Everyone says he's gone. Moved on. And so should I, but I know he's still here... Somewhere... Waiting." As he continued on, his voice grew quieter, with almost a reverence with it. "And so, I too wait."

Lilo couldn't help but shudder a little, she hated to see her friend like this. Usually he would talk with excitement or a sense of rebellion, but Dib spoke with no such enthusiasm. It was like he was only repeating phrases he originally said a few weeks prior. There was no denying it, Dib was in serious trouble. Maybe a first good step would be to get him to try and express his emotions and not just repeat his thoughts like a broken record. "Ok, but how are you feeling."

Once again, Dib seemed caught off guard by the statement, but then finally showed some signs of life. Granted it was a rude sigh paired with rolling eyes, but at least it was a signal that the old Dib Lilo knew was still in there.

"What do you think!? I feel like dookie." Dib sniffed indignantly, looking at all monitors except the one holding Lilo's face. "I'm tired, I feel gross, and-"

"Well if you feel gross why not just go take a shower and call it a night?"

Dib seemed slightly swayed by the words for a full second before, reverting back to his previous state. "No... No I can't leave everything unattended. What if he shows up while I'm gone?"

"Dib?"

"I'd never know, and he'd free to do what ever he wishes with the earth behind my back!"

"Dib?" The more he talked the more emotion grew in his actions, but if he was only going to try and shut Lilo out then this wouldn't be any better then the trance he was in earlier.

"He'd be free to destroy the planet!"

"Dib? You can't think-"

"And I wouldn't even know till it's too late!"

"Dib! Please just-"

"Earth would be doomed, and it would be all my fault! I can't fail earth! I can't loose all this to Zim!" His lips were shaking as he shouted. Off screen she could hear Gaz yelling at him to shut up, but he was deaf to her threats. "Something's coming... I know it, I feel it... But-"

"Hey Dib! Don't get me wrong, you're probably one of the best investigators I know. And you do usually have good gut instincts... But you won't be any help if your sick and exhausted when the time comes that something does happen."

"True, but-"

"Just go take a shower, I promise you'll feel better. You'll probably figure out a more efficient way to go about tracking down Zim, then whatever this is."

"But what about the monit-"

"If you send me links to all the cameras, Stitch and I can be on the lookout. We could all take shifts if you want, and then later we can figure out a more productive way to track Zim down."

Dib pondered the words while leaning back in his chair, eyes still glued on the monitors more out of instinct now then recognition. Finally, he forced his eyes shut, turned towards one of his keyboards and rapidly began typing.

"Ok, I'm sending you the links now. You sure you can-"

"We can handle it Dib.

"Ok, but if you have any questions or problems you have to let me know right away."

"Sure, don't worry about it!" In the corner of her screen suddenly several hundred links to the cameras appeared and began loading. "Ok, I got all the links! Geez, How many are there?"

"About 900." He replied casually. As he got up, he looked over all the monitors one last time, "Ok... Thanks for calling me up, by the way."

"No problem! I actually kinda wish I had time to call you up more, I've been getting really busy on the island, what with S.H.E.I.L.D.'s newly mandated immigration policies."

"Ugh! That sounds rough,"

"Yea so I've been kinda spread thin trying to get all the cousin's the proper dumb paperwork they need to legally stay on the planet."

"Hmph! They can worry so much about your friends, and yet they can't seem to ever nab a guy like Zim!" Dib noted bitterly.

"I know right? But that's why they let guys like you and me stick around! To get the little bad guys."

"Ha, I guess..." Dib yawned as he reached over towards what Lilo assumed was a end call button. "Well, I'll see you later..."

"Bye Dib! Take care of yourself, ok?"

He gave a small nod, "Yep, I'll try." And with that the screen went dark.

As she uploaded all the cameras to her one screen, she couldn't help but feel bewildered by Dib's initial plan and tactics. Granted she was only looking at one small over stimulating screen while Dib had hundreds of monitors to spread out the footage reels, but this was still very ridiculous and Lilo's eyes already felt strained.

"Dib, you sure are a trooper." Lilo muttered, beginning to organize the screens into groups of 100, "A whack-job with minimal rationality, but still a trooper for making it this far..." And as the screen began cycling footage, she couldn't help but frown at the thought of Dib having done this for several weeks without rest. "I hope he does feel better..."


	2. Looking Better?

It was a little under two weeks before Dib called Lilo back. By now all Dib's cameras had been successfully upgraded and facial recognition software replaced human eyes in the on-going for a the Irken menace. And Lilo hoped the renovations would help Dib to remember his own health and rebuild some of his rationality.

As Lilo accepted the call and waited for their connection to load she crossed her fingers that her friend would show at least some small kind of improvement. Even the smallest of changes would be for the better. Better then things for her had turned in the past weeks...

For once in quite a while for Lilo, things didn't take a turn for the worst. Even if it was just one person doing something good... It showed that Dib was taking better care of himself. His hair was neatly combed and brushed, skin and clothes no longer greasy and grimy. Even his eyes had regained their spark and focus. And he greeted her with a wave along with an authentic grin.

"Hey Lilo!"

Man he was actually smiling, when was the last time she'd seen him do that? She quickly tried to mimic some of Dib's positivity. "Hi Dib! What's up?"

"Not much, just got back from school, gotta little bit of time before I have to go check the camera spots near the Mall and this one Hot Dog stand Zim use to really like."

"Wait! I thought you weren't going to get too wrapped up in that again, take some time to check over yourself." Lilo felt herself growing uneasy, at least Dib was leaving the house. But rushing to every single spot in person wouldn't be any better for his-

"Yea, I know. But I like to just check on them all whenever I pass by on my runs. Puts my mind to ease a little I guess."

Oh. "You've been out running?"

"Uh-huh, I've been working on getting back in shape, working with weights and a lot of other stuff. I even found some old jazzercise tapes."

"Huh, that's great though. How's it been going so far?"

"Really good actually! I first unfused my butt from the chair. My butt literally fused to my computer chair. It was really rough at first. But now that that's out of the way, I've been focusing on building back up my leg muscles after sitting for so long. But yeah, I'd say things are going pretty well! How've you been?"

Lilo wasn't sure what to say at first, in truth things were the complete opposite of great for her at the moment. But Dib seemed so happy for once, she didn't want to dampen that just when he started feeling good about himself again. Then again much like herself, he really didn't like being lied to...

She sighed heavily before responding, "Uhhh, things have been a nightmare over here. Turns out, all 626 of good reports I helped put together mean literally nothing to S.H.E.I.L.D if 627 and the Leroys' reports are still atrocious."

Like she'd expected, Dib's entire demeanor changed "That's terrible! You worked so hard on all those."

"Yeah, I know. And not only that, but apparently they've sent some of their people here behind my back!"

"What! Why?"

"I guess they really want to put together a case against us. Some of the cousins told me they've seen agents undercover as tourists. Bet they did that on purpose." She couldn't help the bitterness growing in her voice.

"So typical of them... Are you all ok? They haven't taken anyone or-"

"No, not yet. Thank goodness. But I have a hunch after this tourist season ends the island might be put under a surprise lockdown or something." She felt like a small weight was being lifted, finally talking to someone about all the anger that had been bottled up before. But she didn't feel like it helped anyone if she only passed her rage on to Dib.

But it was already too late, he was visibly seething now, "I can't believe it! They just ignore people, or lock them away to make it even easier to ignore." His hands formed into fists, shaking slightly. "Even after they fell apart in the whole Hydra fiasco, they still only want to hide problems? And of anyone, you and your family don't deserve to be treated like another one of their problems!"

She wanted to respond, but no good words could come to mind besides half-hearted agreement. Luckily Dib was on a tangent now and just kept going even when Lilo didn't respond.

"You're island's so important. We could seriously be helping people. But what do they do? Just disband everything that doesn't have S.H.E.I.L.D's fingerprints on it and remove anyone who dares to be a middle man. But they can't get rid of you! You're the one keeping the island together! Without you there is no island!..." As his tangent lost steam, he calmed down some, though his face remained irked and furrowed. "Man, I'm sorry, that just really, really makes me mad..."

"Well if nothing else, at least I know I have some vindication for all the nonsense they've been pulling."

"No kidding. And you'd think what with literally being split in two, S.H.E.I.L.D would die off, or at least take time to repair themselves before bossing everyone around again!"

"Yea, you'd think that. But I guess they feel they're too important to worry about keeping themselves in check before playing world police."

Dib smiled though a grimness colored his voice. "Ha! I hope they aren't spying on these calls, we probably sound like super villains right now, what with bad mouthing the world police so much."

While Lilo laughed a little in response, the thought ran coldly through her mind. She always liked to think she was a hero, protecting the world from aliens and making everyone good... But what was gonna happen now that it looked like she was defending aliens, her family but aliens nonetheless, over humanity? It's easy to say you're in the right when you're fighting evil giant mosquitoes and Hamsters who blatantly admit to trying to destroy the planet, but what about when your assumed enemies are now the ones who work to protect the world? What did that make her?

Dib continued, "And on top of that I have expansive knowledge on one of the most imperial empires in this galaxy and the next, as well as a literal space craft of theirs and you have an army of invincible alien gummy bears that almost exclusively listen and respect you!"

"Man, when you put it like that, we sound really bad."

"Yea, I guess so... Are you doing ok?"

"Yea I guess I'm fine."

"Hmmmm," Dib didn't by her lie, but he changed the subject anyway. "I really wanna help out though... Hey! I only have a couple of weeks left of school, how 'bout after that, I fly over for the summer and help you out with all the S.H.E.I.L.D stuff?"

"Huh? What would you do?"

"What I do best! I would be spying on the spies. And I bet I could get away with it all since I could disguise as a tourist too! I could help make sure they don't bother you guys too much or purposely make a bad report."

Lilo let the idea stew in her head as she thought aloud, "That's an idea... A little risky though since I think we're both on their radar. If you look like you're interfering too much, they might start to see us as trying to fight them... And I really, really don't want to pick any fights with S.H.E.I.L.D if I can avoid it."

"Of course, I won't fly over if you don't want me too. I'm just offering." Dib offered hurridly.

"Ok, Uhh..." She could admit to herself that she was running out of options, but rushing headfirst into any plan hastily put together is always a poor move. So instead, might as well take some precautions. "Can I think stuff over, and get back to you on it?"

Dib nodded, "Yeah, sure. Like I said, I still have a couple weeks of school left and a lot I need to catch-up on since I missed so much of my classes. But don't hesitate to call me up, ok?"

"Alright, I'll keep you updated on everything."

"Ok, I'll see you around!"

"Yeah, later!"

With that the connection ended and the screen went to black. Lilo sighed in relief and pushed her laptop to the side, just letting her self lie down and stare at the living room ceiling. Letting her mind wander.

As a kid, she was always called a freak or crazy. Granted, she often would fight and bite people in response... Not to mention that before she was even ten she had broken out of jail, destroyed numerous tourist traps while chasing down experiments. And even before aliens came to Hawaii, she was experimenting with voodoo and would regularly fake tsunami warnings just to watch all the tourists flee from the beaches... If that wasn't red flags for villainy then what was?

The more Lilo thought about it, the more she felt like she'd dodged some sort of bullet. Sure, the flocks of tourists still irritated her sometimes, and she still believed in all the magic rituals she use to practice. But much of that rage channeled behind those things subsided after Stitch came along. And no matter how angry or bitter she'd grown as a kid she still remembered the importance of friendship and family, like her parents had always taught her. Despite all the bad things she had to deal with she was still a good person of good intentions; regardless of what S.H.E.I.L.D questioned and feared in her and her Ohana. Right?

Despite all the disagreements coming about between them, she believed S.H.E.I.L.D to be a force for good too. It's just they both were having two differing definitions of what good truly meant and how to best bring it about... And she hoped that what ever clash came about between them that neither party would be labeled the bad guy... She also hoped that Dib could see that side of her conflict as well, he had always been so quick to call things and people inherently good or evil...

Speaking of him, it was great to know that Dib was doing infinently better then before. And that for now he wasn't letting any of Zim's so-called schemes get to his head. And though she wasn't sure what to think of it at the moment, she realized that the subject of Zim had only been brought up once in their entire conversation...

 ** _And that's it for now! I like this idea so far and I think I'm gonna run with it and see where it goes. And just so it's known, this takes place after the events of winter solider, but the Age of Ultron has not yet dawned... Thank you for reading and I hoped you enjoyed. Don't feel shy to ask me any questions or give me any critiques. :)_**


	3. Looks Aren't All

div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);"Deep down in the base of a certain Invader-in-hiding, three vortian babies and two robots watched as the furious Irken paced back and forth and furiously typed at numerous keyboards./div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);""Curse that Human, that wretched girl! She's ruined everything!"/div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);"Almost all monitors in the room showed pictures of Zim's great menace: Dib. But no longer was he sitting lazily in his room, growing weak and disgusting. Now he was back to his dumb medaling ways! And it was all because of that stupid Lilo and her stupid inspirational pep-talking!/div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);"Zim felt himself slow to a stop as he watched a recorded Dib exercise on one screen. Now he only had a small bit of pudge around his middle, one couldn't even tell now that he'd been sitting for weeks on end. All that waiting, all the terrible waiting was for nothing!/div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);""I miss the days of old when it was only Dib and Zim..." His hand went to the screen as if to touch the Dib's face, but quickly went to the boy's throat as if trying to strangle him. "Back when we could fight in peace, with no dumb humans trying to butt their way into our great cosmic battle." The hand fell off the monitor and back to Zim's side. "But no human, no creature in this universe will end this war before I-"/div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);""Uncle Zim!" One of the Vortian babies finally called, all three meekly walking up to Zim while working together to carry a giant book. "Will you read us a bed-time story?"/div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);"All three children shied away when they saw Zim shoot them a furious glare. But instead of speaking to them he spoke to his trusty minion. "I don't have time for these small smellies! Minimoose, put them back in their erasing chamber and read the dumb story to them!"/div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);""Nhey!" The minion replied cheerfully, scooping up all three babies and their book onto his back and carrying them away./div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);""Now! Where was I..." As he returned to his pacing his other minion, GiR, slipped out of his dog suit and followed behind him, mimicking all his steps and dramatic hand motions. "Ah yes! Dumb humans! Those wrecked dumb things! Being so dumb and... Umm... Smelly? No, no... Errrrr, Being nosy! Yes, being so nosy! I ought to cut off all their stupid smelly noses when I take over... But for now, I must get rid of the Dib and all those who try to get between him and I!"/div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);"With flourish he brought up a missive list of photos and files all about Lilo; everything from the Galactic Federation to S.H.E.I.L.D, from when she was just a small little girl to the teenager she was now. "Starting with this one!"/div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);"Just as he was about to break into an evil laugh, red lights began flashing from the monitor. "Warning. Enemy has entered base boundaries." His computer said, lacking any real urgency or concern./div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);""Oh has he now?" Zim asked grinning as he hurried over to his monitor showing live footage from his front yard. "This should be good, it's been a while since he's shown his hideous face around here."/div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);"~~~/div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);"Hundreds of feet above ground from where Zim schemed, Dib stood staring at the empty appearing base. He noted how the base didn't seem to glow or radiate the way it had when Zim was around. Even the loud green and purple color of the house seemed faded and worn down. /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);"But it had been like that for a while now; each day the base seemed to resemble any other normal house more and more. What drew Dib to the base from his daily runs was the fact that now a freshly planted shrub was randomly placed in the front yard. It was so jarring it made Dib freeze mid-step. Maybe if he hadn't almost religiously studied the house for years he might not notice. But he had, and he did notice the inarguably new addition to the yard. /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);"Dib knew he couldn't have not seen such a large, obviously poorly planted shrub before. That meant someone yesterday had to have planted it. He wanted to believe it had been Zim, but why would he plant a shrub here? Was it some sort of sign? A message to say he was still around and ready to strike whenever? /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);"Dib felt his stomach churn at the thought, he'd been fighting Zim for so long... And then he just vanished. But now that he'd finally made a friend and was ready to move on with his life, Zim shows back up. /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);"A part of Dib was thrilled at the thought of picking back up on the fight he'd put so much time in effort into. And with each battle of strength and wits, Dib had learned more and more about the elusive Irken. Wether it be about how his technology, his society's structure, even just small characteristics like the way Zim's antenna would rise and lower depending on his emotions. He'd discovered much, but there was still so much left to know. And the only way Dib could ever see and study Zim was fighting him. Plus each time Dib stopped one of Zim's evil plans meant another victory for him and another day that the planet was safe./div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);"But another side of his mind felt exhausted at the idea of jumping back into this never-ending fight. Why not just go to Hawaii, hang out with Lilo and her family, and just do what he loved; studying aliens and working with people who understood, and even liked him? As much as he loved protecting the world, especially from Zim, it just felt like such a thankless job to always be mocked and called crazy for saving people's lives. Besides, Zim had been hiding all this time so why couldn't he go into hiding too? What's the worst that Zim could really do while he was gone? Would he even noticed if he left for a little while? /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);"As his inner musings clashed with one another, he let himself carefully step onto the front lawn. The gnomes didn't burst to life the way he'd feared they would. No lasers or tasers. They didn't even turn to look at him. He was able to walk right up to the front door, which now looked ancient even though the base itself couldn't be more then two years old. In fact the whole building now looked like it could fall apart in splinters despite being made from an alien metal material and still being relatively new. Was this all some sort of cloak Zim added to make the building seem older and more abandoned?/div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);"Out of curiosity, Dib pounded his fist onto the splintered-appearing door, only to here a resounding metal clunk in response. "Zim!? If your in there, come on out and face me!" He demanded, trying to sound more confident than he felt at the moment. He waited, but just as he feared there was no response./div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);"Maybe this was part of his plan, to get Dib to forget about him, to make it seem like he's gone for good... Then just when Dib gets too comfortable or worse as soon as he leaves for Hawaii that's when Zim will strike! /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);"As Dib's mind was racing he felt something strange happen, that part of his mind that just wanted to run away to Hawaii kicked in again. It was like a cold slap to the face. If Zim was gonna waste his time hiding and trying to make him feel crazy, then two could play at that game! And when he goes to unleash his dumb plan, it will be someone else's problem! Heck maybe SHEILD could get their act together and take him out! Whatever Zim was gonna do, Dib didn't care! At least, that's what he told himself for now. /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);""Dumb alien, not my problem anymore..." he muttered, turning away from the door and resuming his run. As he ran out of the cul-de-sac and back onto the main road, he didn't look back a single time. Instead he kept his thoughts focused on how much better things would be in summer; when he'd be hanging out with Lilo, helping her protect their island and above all, actually appreciated for protecting the planet./div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);"~~~/div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);""Eh. Well, that was a weird thing Dib-jog did..." Zim seemed at a loss for words, Dib just left. He never left his front yard on his own free will... But he quickly shook his head and tried to compose himself. "But wether Dib interferes or not, my plan shall not be stopped. Oh what a wonderful plan it shall be! It shall be so great, that dumb little Dib-monkey will writhe in anguish at not ever trying to stop my ingenious new plan! It shall be-"/div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);""What's your new plan mastah'!" Gir asked, rolling around on the floor now. /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);""Quiet Gir! I'm still working on my plan! But when I finish, it shall really... Ummm, it shall really be... Eh, Something." For a brief moment, Zim seemed lost, almost saddened. But once again he shook his head trying to get back on track. "But first we must get rid of the human girl, GiR! She's the one that's been interfering with Zim's great plan by interfering with Dib so much." /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);"He began scrolling through the many files about Lilo his computer had found. He cringed at the pictures of her as a small worm baby. She hugged genetic monstrosities-against-nature as if they were small squishy toys for her to play with. /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);""Dumb thing," Zim muttered to himself, "those are vicious deadly monsters that can bring about a planet's destruction, not some huggable... Mushy..." As Zim spoke, the gears in his mind began to spin wildly as a plan began to form in his mind. "Weapons that I can use against you pitiful humans!" With that he began to giggle, which soon lead into his maniacal villain's laugh. The sound bounced off the walls of his underground base, making all the walls dangling wires tremble slightly./div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);""Man, I haven't laughed like that in a while!"/div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);"strongemThere, finally wrote another chapter! Sorry it's taken a while, I've gotten a little overwhelmed with school work and drama, but I've gotten more order and control now. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter and look out for the next one which should come soon!/em/strong/div  
div style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392);" /div 


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